Osceola Square Mall Facelift Scrubbed

KISSIMMEE, FL-The Goodman Co. of West Palm Beach has ended plans to demolish most of the 17-year-old, 360,000-sf Osceola Square Mall and redevelop the pink-and-aqua-colored neighborhood center to compete with newly planned retail projects in the US 192 area near Walt Disney World.

Company representatives confirm to GlobeSt.com that a lack of new tenants forced Goodman to leave the project. Steven D. Bell & Co. of Greensboro, NC owns the mall, which has an estimated occupancy of75%, area retail brokers tell GlobeSt.com. Brokers put the estimated redevelopment cost at $18 million, or about $50 per sf.

As Goodman bows out of the project, two other unidentified owner/developers are making purchasing inquiries on the mall, brokers tell GlobeSt.com. If sold, brokers say the mall will face almost immediate new competition from the Loop, a planned 440,000-sf open-air shopping and entertainment hub planned for 2005 by the Wilder Cos. of Boston in north Osceola County near Hunter’s Creek which is in south Orange County.